A word on the price of art

Every now and then someone will say my art is too expensive. They say, “How can you charge $4000 for a painting that took you 3 hours to paint?” It’s especially challenging when I am doing my live painting and they watched me paint it in those 3 hours.

The thing is, in the arts, you aren’t really paying for an hourly rate of work. Think about what you paid to go see your favourite musical performance. You were at the concert for what, 3 hours? And you paid $300 or even $1000 or more for a ticket? You aren’t really paying for 3 hours of work. You are paying to watch a performance. You are paying for the experience. You are paying for their years of performing and their unique creativity that only they can give you.

Or think about what movie stars get paid to act in your favourite movie or TV show. I recently heard that Mila Kunis got paid over $250,000 for each episode she did the voice for ‘Meg’ in the TV show ‘Family Guy’. Who’s to say she got paid too much? Only she has that voice. Only she is Mila Kunis, so if you want Mila Kunis, you have to pay for Mila Kunis.

So back to art. You are paying for that particular artists years of experience of making art. Their years of working out what their voice looks like on canvas. Only they can create that piece of art with only their hands. It’s a unique piece of art that only has one existence. Once it has ben purchased, that’s it. It’s gone. And then they make more art and continue working out their style and voice on that canvas. That’s what you are paying for. A one of a kind unique artwork that will only ever exist once, but will last a lifetime. It will last longer than that expensive handbag you bought. It will last longer than that sports car you purchased. It will last longer than the expensive living room or dining room set you invested in.

And that’s just it. Art is an investment. It’s something that will go on your own wall, and will be passed down to your children and then your childrens’ children.